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This was a truly crazy year on the Toronto theatre scene. There was the usual quota of impressive offerings (see sidebar) but what happened offstage was often even more electric. In fact, theatre world was the source of breaking news more frequently than it has been in years. Here are 10 of the top stories that grabbed our attention

1) THE FACTORY FIASCO:
On June 20, Ken Gass was terminated from Factory Theatre, the organization he had co-founded in 1970, run successfully for nine years and then returned to save from bankruptcy 17 years later. The board of directors, led by real estate developer Ron Struys, never explained more than to indicate it was a conflict with Gass about how renovations on the heritage property were to proceed. While the board searched for Gass’s replacement, his supporters rallied 5,000 names on a petition for his return or a boycott of the theatre. Three of the season’s major plays, by Michel-Marc Bouchard, George F. Walker and Judith Thomson, were withdrawn, leaving the playbill in ruins. Ron Struys and the board have still not apologized, the boycott remains and the theatre community is split in two by some stubborn board members who haven’t learned you don’t run a theatre like a bake sale.

2) THE PROUD MR. HEALEY:
After a decade as playwright in residence at Tarragon Theatre, Michael Healey packed up his marbles and went home after artistic director Richard Rose refused to produce his latest play, Proud. The rejection was wasn’t because Rose hated the play, but because certain board members felt it libeled Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Healey wouldn’t stand for that and proceeded to stage readings and raised funds to produce his play in Toronto last fall. It was a witty, incisive triumph and some people felt it was too kind to Harper, not too cruel.

3) GOODBYE TO THE PRINCESS:
David Mirvish ruffled some feathers when he revealed a proposal to build condos and museums on King St. W. with Frank Gehry, calling for the demolition of the Princess of Wales Theatre. Yes, it’s a gorgeous space, but it is one of too many giant theatres, and its demise serves notice that the days of the mega-musical and the theatres it filled for years at a time are long gone. Mirvish is looking to the future, while some wanted to stay in the past. My money is on Mirvish.

4) HERE’S YOUR HAT AND WHAT’S YOUR HURRY?
Aubrey Dan was best known for his trademark fedora, his genial air and the fact that virtually none of his shows really succeeded. He tried hard to carve out a niche for Dancap opposite Mirvish but, although he loved theatre and had money for days, he lacked the street smarts, connections and vision of the last man to stand in those boots, Garth Drabinsky. Jersey Boys was a nice coup, but that was about the only one and when Dan decided to fold his tents this past spring, nobody was really surprised.

5) THE KING IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE KING:
Des McAnuff announced unexpectedly early this year that he was leaving his position as artistic director of the Stratford Festival a year earlier than planned. Whether he had good offers elsewhere or was strangely prescient, we’ll never know. His final season will have lost somewhere between $3 million and $4 million, a tidy sum for his successor, Antoni Cimolino, to deal with. And to add insult to injury, McAnuff’s attempt to bring the Stratford Jesus Christ Superstar to Broadway ended in failure. The $64,000 question: why is McAnuff’s production of Tommy for next season seemingly booked on the same Stratford/La Jolla/Broadway flight path?

6) SUMMERWORKS LOVIN’:
This was the year that SummerWorks became the hottest and most influential producing agency in Toronto. Some of the most fascinating artists (Hawksley Workman, Nina Arsenault) and plays (Terminus) that I saw all year sprang up in the frantic, fertile West End garden, where theatrical quality blossoms and artistic director Michael Rubenfeld knows what blooms to keep.

7) OFF-MIRVISH, ON THE BEAM:
It was Terminus, that SummerWorks smash, which helped inspire off-Mirvish, a bold marriage of commercial and not-for-profit entities, in an attempt to give the avant garde a better chance of survival. Four shows will be offered are by Mirvish in alternative venues and if they’re all as good as the first two (Terminus and Without You), then something exciting has been born.

8) HEART AND SOULPEPPER:
Albert Schultz’s actor-run company has always done entertaining and meaningful theatre, but this year it plunged roots deep into the community. Kim’s Convenience was the homegrown hit that wouldn’t quit and was Schultz kept using his young artists, like the play’s author, Ins Choi, in daring ways. Was there a more joyous show in town than Alligator Pie, which Choi and Mike Ross and three other company members cooked up? If you attended the Global Cabaret Festival in the fall you would have seen Mike Ross leading an Elvis tribute evening where the likes of Brent Carver, Don Francks and Denzal Sinclaire honoured the king, as well as a Spoon River Anthologythat deserves to come back soon, forever. The Young Centre works like no other theatre in this city and its primary asset is Soulpepper.

9) SHINE ON, LUMINATO:
Just when some of us were starting to lose faith in Luminato, along came Jorn Weisbrodt, the new and canny artistic director. Suddenly the big public events at Dundas Square caught creative fire, while shows like Einstein on the Beach and Robert Lepage’s Playing Cards caused the genuine buzz the festival always needed. Weisbrodt seems to know what he’s doing. Let’s give him some time and space to show us his game face.

10) THE GHOST OF DRABINSKY PAST:
Was there anything more bittersweet than Show Stopper, Barry Avrich’s warts-and-all portrait of Garth Drabinsky that he presented at TIFF? Total disclosure, I appeared in it, but the real fascination lay in stars like Elaine Stritch and Chita Rivera, who would defend him to the death, as well as the film moguls who would sooner sentence him to death. It reminded us of a time that was written in capital letters, but all in the past tense. Drabinsky is now on parole, but no one is really hoping for his particular brand of forked lightning to strike twice.

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